in religion of any kind and as I may agree with you that Judaism is the most intelligent and humane system of superstitious crowd-controlling commands I can assure you that not ONE of the "commands" couldn't be reached without inserting an Invisible Entity into the equation.Our Invisible Father is a figment of human imagination and that's the reason that He has been made in the spitting image of Man: jelaous, petty, impulsive, vindictive and plainly small minded. But hey, knock yourself out with the Beauty of our tradition: whatever you find there is a product of our beautiful , human mind! -I'm kidding about the "maideleh"...

....for it is the temple for the shechina. I bet this rabbi smokes (and makes excuses) TOO.

great and wellknown Rabbi,who gives every week lectures to physicians. Don t judge him by what you read in newspapers.

Shame on this rabbi who gives such sick advice. And shame on all the commenters who would sweep this under the rug. What would you do if a rabbi advised your own daughters to mutilate her own body? What's that they say about denial not being just a river in Egypt?

Wow, it's a good thing that everyone has an opinion in this world. I find myself to be a well balanced open minded person who was born catholic and chose to be Jewish. I am proud of what I believe and and even though I know there is a large shadow that tries to cast it's web around the world. There are many beautiful miracles in every aspect of our day. Try look at that for a change and leave the pessimism aside. I was not saying you have to believe in Judaism but you can respect it. Let's face it without it's history and laws what are you really. Either way no judgement from my side on what you choose to believe. Have a great day!

The liberal leftists on ynet go crazy about this irresponsible rabbi, but how about her parents? Why are they preventing her from dressing as she pleases? We all know full well what all the liberals would say if it was a religious girl who wanted to dress less modestly and her family were preventing her from doing so... The insanity of the Chareidim and the blind hatred of the leftists threaten to destroy us all!

you have messed up hashkafot end!

In 1955 my parents left the orthodox synagogue because of such nonsense and 10 years later I became a non practicing Jew most rabbis in the U.S. had moved far left politically and preached such nonsense it in their sermons.

the modesty must come from the heart of the person.... not dictated dictated modesty is not from the heart of the person and does little to honor hashem other than putting on a faulse front to impress man.

As that other article published by YNet, about the rabbis who condemned the dog to death.

an insult to the creator who made us....

Obviously it is problematic to injure oneself according to halachah, which is why the young lady asked the sheilah. Presumably the Rabbi in question felt that this was a sufficient toelet to permit doing so. It should be recognized that he wasn't out advocating or promoting this position from what we have been told, merely answering her own question on the matter. Of course I am not qualified to decide matters of halachah but I do feel confident that if this ruling was given it should have been explained that there are better alternatives. After all we are speaking about someone who is, or very least very near, the age of legal majority. "Honoring thy Father and Mother" (a la #2) is simply not relevant when they are instructing one to violate halachah. Period. And I doubt anyone who would seriously suggest that one obey parents to violate the laws of modesty would do so in the converse situation.

If this girl is a young adult, her parents need to accept her desire to dress in accordance with her beliefs, and she needs to have the strength to tell them what she is doing, without resorting to hurting herself, or being disrespectful of them. Perhaps it would have been better for this rabbi to suggest family therapy, rather than jumping right to promoting self-mutilation?

Ynet didn't make this up. It's not the secular media out to make the charedi world look bad. Zilbershtein himself spoke about this incident, in the exact same terms, at a recent conference of "Lev L'achim" and said the story was so inspiring it should be published all around the world to strengthen people's awareness and desire for tzeni`ut. Do some googling, recordins and/or transcripts of the conference should be out there.

The best post this week! Thanks for the laugh.

I, for one is Jewish. I dress reasonably modest without having to inflict pain on myself. My body is not for public viewing. Only my husband has that priviledge. And I can assure that I'm far better looking than most of you :-)

So there are only 10 commandments? If you father says steal do you steal? Silly comment.

"The first cut is the deepest". The rabbi should set an example and put his head in a working wood chipper. What ever happened to the old days? Remember when rabbis had intelligence? Those days are gone.Perhaps we do not need rabbis anymore? We could use decent Jews with knowledge and a Jewish heart and soul.

from this illness called religion . she has'nt to pray to an inexistiong thing called a "god " . Today we had a good laugh in the bus , when such a charidi monster leaved her seat because of a man who came sitting next to her .

A stupid rabbi and a stupid girl , you said it .

I don't believe this article. It has the earmarks of another "dog being sentenced to death" debacle. This "psak" does not make any sense and I can't believe this article was well researched. Shame on you for reporting this. It only serves to generate Loshon Harah and Chillul HaShem.

Why can't she just go to the store, buy a skirt, and wear it? She's 18 years old! What are her parents going to do about it? Chances are, nothing worse than self-inflicted wounds.....

You did a better job in the foreign media.Your comments were professional and sharp.

It's amazing how people fell for this

Each and every time he thinks or has actually sinned, he must flagellate himself with a cat of nine tails (Lukshan strap) to get an idea of what it feels like Afterwards, one of his disciples must rub salt (kosher of course) into the wounds so he can fully appreciate the pain

Gee whats next , slaying your parents ? Flogging in the public square ? This rabbi clearly demonstrates how that religion has no place in a democratic society in the year 2011.

Is the promoter of this ritual a new member of the islamic shiia faith ?.who mourn the death of husain eben ali,the grand son of mohamed ,at the battle of karbula,the shiia mourn his death by self flagellation,with knives,chains and blades,the more blood the better,this man should be excommunicated for preaching a muslim custom.